Blue Jays earn high praise in FOX Sports' 26-and-under rankings

Jordan Shusterman and the staff over at FOX Sports recently released a list that looks at teams around Major League Baseball and how they rank in terms of players that are only 26-and-under. This list takes prospects into account but also leans heavily on the talent that already is up in the major leagues for teams.

To start things off at the bottom, you have teams like the Colorado Rockies, San Francisco Giants, Oakland A's, New York Mets and Texas Rangers. Each of these clubs, especialy the Giants, Mets and Rangers, have a ton of talent on the team but it's primarily consisting of longtime veterans playing out massive contracts.

The Toronto Blue Jays find themselves all the way up in the No. 5 spot, which is a huge compliment to how the front office has gone about drafting some of the young stars who are tearing it up at the big league level.

Other clubs in the American League East weren't so lucky. The New York Yankees ranked 20th, the Boston Red Sox landed in the 15th spot and the Tampa Bay Rays landed in the No. 8 spot.

There are currently four teams whose rankings have not yet been announced. This includes the division rival Baltimore Orioles, who have to be near the top thanks to the presence of both Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson.

The three remaining clubs have to be some configuration of the Houston Astros, Atlanta Braves and Cleveland Guardians.

Diving into the article written by Rowan Kayner on the Blue Jays, the very first sentence says it all:

"The Blue Jays epitomize what this list is all about."

Big league hitting: 10 out of 10

Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, Alejandro Kirk, Danny Jansen and Daulton Varsho all receive praise for their offensive efforts.

Guerrero and Bichette figure to represent one of the best one-two punches in any lineup in the game heading into 2023. Kirk, a 2022 All-Star and Jansen figure to evenly split time behind the plate while Varsho, the biggest trade acquisition of the offseason, is going to be leaned on to produce at the rate that many experts say he will.

Prospect hitting: 2 out of 5

Trading away Austin Martin, Jordan Groshans and Gabriel Moreno has put quite the dent in this part of the Jays' organization.

Orelvis Martinez and Tucker Toman, two versatile infielders, get praise but are labeled as "long-term projects" in the piece. Martinez needs to hone in on his strikeouts and Toman only has 11 professional appearances to his name, so it's a bit too early to throw any real expectations his way.

Otto Lopez and Addison Barger are tabbed as the two hitting prospects closest to big league time. Lopez just finished carving up the World Baseball Classic and is a speedy, versatile option for the Jays bench.

Barger, 23, was just recently optioned to the minors but he has some serious bat-to-ball skills and is widely regarded as one of the best defensive prospects in the system right now.